School registers are taken twice daily. A day counts as 2 attendances. All children are able to enter the school at 8.35 a.m. and are expected to be in class by 8.45 a.m. for the morning session. Morning registration ends at 9.00 a.m. Any child who arrives after this time will be marked as late. After 9.30 a.m., this will become an Unauthorised Absence, unless medical evidence has been provided. The afternoon registers are taken at 1.00 p.m. and close at 1.10 p.m. 

It is essential that children arriving and leaving with a parent / carer outside normal hours are signed in or out from the school office. The signing in / out register in the office is used in the case of an emergency and a fire drill.

Every effort should be made to arrange medical appointments outside school hours. If it is necessary for a child to be out of school for this reason, the child should return to school directly after the appointment should the school day not have ended. 

The school office should be informed before 9.15am on the morning of the first day of a child’s absence through illness and then each morning, if appropriate, for the duration of the absence. 

Medical certificates may be required if an absence is greater than five days or overall attendance is acceptable. 

Parents are required under the Education Act (1996) to ensure their child attends school regularly.  Due to recent amendments (April 2013) that have been made to the Department for Education’s Pupil Registration Regulations to address attendance issues, it has been made clear to Head Teachers that they should not grant leave of absence during term time unless there are “exceptional circumstances”. The law does not grant parents/carers an automatic right to take their child out of school during term time. It is a common misconception that pupils are allowed to take up to ten days holiday in term time during any academic year. 

If the request for a leave of absence is refused and the absence is recorded as unauthorised, the Head Teacher may refer the matter to the Local Authority requesting a Penalty Notice be issued against you. 

A Penalty Notice is £60 if paid within 21 days of receipt, rising to £120 if the notice is paid after 21 days but within 28 days.  If the penalty is not paid in full by the end of the 28 day period the Local Authority may prosecute for the offence to which the notice applies. Where there is more than one child, each parent may be issued with a Penalty Notice in respect of each child. 

As a parent/carer, you can demonstrate your commitment to your child’s education by not allowing your child to miss school for anything other than an exceptional and unavoidable reason.  Research suggests that children who are taken out of school may never catch up on the learning they have missed, which may ultimately affect exam and test results.